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Lately is seems like we have had a disproportionate amount of special needs danes. Special Needs doesn't mean they are not rock star family members and cant' love a family. It generally means that you may need to do some things differently or make some accommodations. It could be a dog that simply needs ongoing medication such as allergies, or a physical impairment like deafness. This week to very special danes found their Fair Tail Ending.

Aria came to us listed as hearing impaired o but her foster family swears she can hear a treat hit the carpet from two rooms away! We may never know for sure how much she hears. What we do know is that it does not interfere with her day to day happy go lucky loving life. So this weekend she met her brand new FURever family and they instantly fell in love with her beautiful spirit and loving heart. Aria quickly took to her new fursibling and knew how to charm her new humans. No doubt her foster family was sad to see her go, but they did such a great job anyone would have fallen in love. So a big YIPEEE YAHOOOO and congrats to Aria and her new family.

Sometimes special needs are due to a hard life prior to rescue. When we accepted Avery into our program from a rural shelter we were told she was five years old and in bad shape.. some of that was true. She was showing the tell tale signs of neglect typically associated with over breeding. She was too skinny and her body moved with the stiffness of the unoiled tin man. Once in a loving foster home she recovered quickly and the personality of this grand dame melts the hearts of all she encounters.

A few things are very clear, Avery, physically was much older than her alleged five years, her heart is full of life, she has the best "smile" and she is amazingly incapable of holding a grudge for how she was forced to live for too long. Avery will dance at the site of a leash and while she is not breaking any speed record, she enjoys every drop of sunshine on her trek. This sweet girl has never met a heartbeat she does not like.. big dog, little dog, kitty, kid or soul. We knew Avery would need a FURever home that could see beyond the physical and into this loving generous heart, as much as her foster home.

When an application comes in specifically asking for a senior.. you want to believe they are special loving home. They know they may not have as many years together but the time they share will be filled with the love they missed out on. It is as if these older dogs save their love and only open the full can on those truly deserving. Last weekend Avery met such a FURever home. She is now living the life of luxury with two small dogs who adore her and an extended family to fulfill her every need and want. So for Avery her Happy Ever After may have taken some time but this princess has found her castle.

And they all lived happily ever after. (insert Disney castle and fireworks)

I hate the word "inventory" when applied to rescue, but it illustrates one of the challenges of being a small breed specific rescue. Like any rescue we have limited amounts of foster, monetary, and veterinary resources. As an all volunteer, 501c rescue we dedicate ourselves to saving, rehabilitating and re-homing great danes in need. Our first priority is always danes in area shelters at risk for euthanasia. Our "inventory" is based on who needs us most.. and as a result that sometimes presents some challenges.

Approved adopters are matched with dogs who match aspects of their home. Frequently approved adopters will be given several dogs that match their household, sometimes a home has specific needs. One example would be if an approved adopter already has a cat we would want to match them with a dog know to be good with cats. Sometimes our "inventory" supply may not have a dane we know is good with cats.. so we are left with a stinker of a problem.. approved awesome waiting FURever homes.. and danes waiting for FURever homes....

Not only does this mean a dog will have to wait for a good furever home, but also that a great home will have to wait for just the right match. ughhhhh

Several months ago an awesome past adopter, volunteer and foster was ready for another dane and after the approval process we were stuck waiting for a good match for her household and existing dog. So when Ally came into the program I was cautiously optimistic... I stayed in contact with the foster mom and watched her evaluation process. Each report reaffirmed what I suspected until the Match Team made it official...

Nobody was sure if the existing dog or adopter would love Ally and want to make her a FURever dane, but I was cautiously optimistic! It is with so much YIPEEE and WHOO HOOO that we announce Ally has found the perfect FURever home! This FURever home has lots of experience with deaf danes and the existing dog was so excited with his new fur-sister! (insert fireworks here.. anyone know the HTML for Fireworks)

Remember the two girls from my last blog? One so sick with a respiratory infection and the other covered in more mange and infection than FUR! Turns out we had three others come into rescue for a total of FIVE to the program last week..... I promised an update on the girls so ....

We still are not sure what color Latte will be but there seems to be a split decision between black and merle watch the video of her first week and see what you think. The amazing thing about Latte is that she is so sweet and loving in spite of being in obvious pain. Her skin is so fragile and itchy! Latte is way more forgiving than I am.. which is probably a good thin:)

Our girl with the Upper Respiratory Infection (URI) is doing well but will have a long road before she can be adopted. Anyone who has been sick latey may have noticed that the price of some antibiotics has skyrocketed over 100% in some cases.. so what used to be a relatively inexpensive antibiotic is now very expensive. YIKES! She is in a loving foster home who is caring for her but she will need time and more lots of medication to be well. She is very sick but such a sweet girl and we hope she will make a full recovery.

Three other danes were lucky enough to get another chance at FURever and came to us this week. One soft soul also has a nasty demodex and secondary AND a URI! All three are in loving care of GDRNT tonight, and while I wish this was it .... today alone we received emails from two other shelters that are at capacity with danes needing us. CRAZY...

If you are a past adopter or inactive foster who interested in either vacation or full time fostering please email us. If you have been thinking about fostering, or have questions email us at [email protected] and we can answer any questions... or complete the adoption application but mark the box FOSTER and you need not pay the application fee for a foster.

Today we reached a milestone.....
Originally I had a very different blog planned for today but I am switching gears after the two arrests for Animal Cruelty. The details are gruesome and involve the torture and killing of several puppies. WFAA reports on the specifics of the torture and it will be all over the news by the time you read this. This highly publicized case will be prosecuted but the simple fact remains that this extent of cruelty happens every day.. the only too many people do not get caught.

Each day GDRNT gets multiple requests to take danes in need into our program. Many are individuals looking to re-home danes they either no longer want or can care for.. but often they are from caring Shelters, Rescuers or Law Enforcement seeking help for the hardest cases or neglect, illness or injury.

Today we reached a milestone... danes number 1,500 and 1,501 are both resting safely and getting treatment in our partner veterinary offices. One is very ill from a local shelter and we hope with lots of veterinary care, foster family love and time she will recover. The second is covered in mange and dangerous secondary infection so much so that I can't even tell you the color... she may be black, or merle... I hope we will find out some day soon. I do not no the fate of these danes but can tell you that today they were given a chance. Second chances take volunteers who stopped what they were doing to get them to available veterinary hospital space; others stopped their sunny summer day to drive miles/hours; veterinary staff and doctors who will be working late tonight to give them care. Eventually if all goes well, they will need foster homes who will open up medical foster spaces; and generous donors to help pay for the medications, surgery and hospitalizations required.

So I choose to look at today on a positive note. Today I saw some of the worst of humanity but I also saw some of the very best of human spirit. It is those I give thanks for and tonight so do two sweet furry souls, they just don't know it yet.

Have you ever taken your Dane on a trip? How did you go about finding lodging for a giant dog? I was faced with this very question last weekend when my a/c went out. It was too warm to stay in the house during the day even with fans going, and it was going to take several days to get the parts needed to complete the repair. We tried to find a hotel, but it was challenging to find lodging that would take a giant dog, even a puppy that isn't yet 100+ lbs. The main challenge was that we were searching at the last minute and hadn't really looked into lodging options before.

Every Girl deserves to be a princess and have her happy ever after! Jasmine has found her happy ever after and is living her life as a Princess! Sweet Jasmine came to rescue an energetic pup who was a little unsure why she was in foster care and leery of some men. She has quickly learned that she can trust people and that her new home is truly a Castle. She even has a furry Prince Charming to share with her family! As much as Jasmine LOVES her new family, I think her new family is even more in love with her! Jasmine truly has found her Happy Ever After!

In April 2011 we got a call from an area shelter about a dane very much in need. He was very sweet but had an injured leg and in desperate need of rescue. His foster skin kids named him Dash from the Pixar Movie the Incredibles because they knew he would be moving fast soon. If only it were that easy...

WOW is it Thursday already! What a crazy week it has been... we have taken in 8 dogs in 10 days and have two more in shelters waiting on foster space... we are crammed full and Summer has not even officially started. If you are a past foster home and considering starting again now would be a great time:) At least 4 are heartworm positive, 2 have specific medical needs, 1 had to have a "procedure" to clean out dead skin from a wound.. and I am afraid to look at the medicals on the others:) Someone wiser than me always says.. "It will all work out in the end!" but dang...

So how about some GREAT news! Even with all the intakes we were able to adopt THREE FURever homes last weekend... wooo hoooo! So in no particular order...

Ricky!!! This dude came to GDRNT HW positive and suffering from a nasty PERSISTENT upper respiratory infection. His loving foster family would not be defeated and after numerous trips to the vet, the pharmacy and some sleepless nights Ricky is AWESOME! You could tell he was feeling better because his personality totally shined! Ricky is a loving, silly young dude who has no idea how big he is and found the perfect FURever home to keep up his training and love him FURever! WOOO HOOO

Second time is a charm! Artemis came back to rescue because her adopted FUR siblings were not adjusting to having a roommate! So she found herself back in rescue.. This time not only are the humans thrilled to have her but her FUR sibling is over the moon to have a playmate! These two not only have a blast playing they rest next to each other.. it is the cutest thing ever! This FURever family is active enough to make sure these two high energy FURkids get all the training and exercise they need!

Now this one is a little extra special to me. I have been working with a family with some sweet existing pups who were not sure they wanted a new FURsibling. It was going to take a very special dane for them to accept. Then came Cammy... Cammy came to us as an emergency release by a local shelter. She had been seriously injured and would die if she did not get immediate veterinary care.. after a hospital stay, two surgeries, lots of meds and even more love from her foster home, Cammy was ready for a FURever home. She will always have some special needs because of her injury and needs a family who was willing to take her on. This girl is so so very sweet and we had a hunch the dogs would accept her.. but would the humans be willing to take on a girl who had been so badly injured?

This is my favorite part: I called and went into great detail about what had happened, where she was in rehab and what her future needs would be. We talked about the other dogs and why it was a good fit temperament wise, but I kept coming back to her injury.. I wanted them to be informed. They never flinched or waivered... So it was up to the dogs... well we need not to have worried! It was amazing to watch how it was so meant to be, how all the dogs just accepted each other... BFF!

I cherish each adoption and it is the one thing about rescue that I never seem to grow weary of.. it is our TAH DAH! (visualize confetti!)

Adoptions are intended as FURever. Sometimes, by no fault of the dog, things just do not work out in the long run and a dog does come back to to us. So it was with Karson. Karson found himself back in foster care and was the same sweet, loving dude we always knew. So it is no surprise that his FURever family is completely in LOVE with him! When matched with Karson his FURever family fell quickly in love but when they saw him it was love at first site for Karson too! So CONGRATS to Karson and his awesome FURever family! Can't wait for those updates!

GDRNT like most rescues has a return clause, meaning any dog adopted out by us will always be welcome back into the program. Obviously it is not how we want things to turn out, and we will work with adoptive families issues so a dog can stay in the home, but sometimes it just is not meant to be. Returned danes still need foster space and care that could otherwise be used for a dane waiting in a shelter, but it is so much better they come back to foster care than stay where it is not working out.

This adoption tale is close to my heart because it's the story of my family's newest Dane, Daphne.

Daphne came to rescue with parvovirus, a very serious illness that is fatal if not caught early and treated appropriately. Parvovirus can usually be prevented with proper vaccinations, but this sweet girl was either part of the small group who gets it anyway or else wasn't fully vaccinated. Thankfully the virus was caught in its early stages giving her a fighting chance. Plus, GDRNT had a parvo-savvy foster home open who could get her through it.